Means for simultaneously indicating the spacing between two opposed attritioning elements and their condition of wear



April 15, 1969 MEANS FOR SIMUILTANEOUSLY INDICA'IING THE SPAGING BETWEENTWO OPPOSED ATTRI-TIONING ELEMENTS AND THEIR CONDITION OF WEAR FiledSept. 2. 1966 Fla 1' INVENTOR. ROBERT 5. HI RKWOOD ATTORNEY B.KIRKWOOD3,438,351-

April 15, 1969 R. B. KIRKWOOD 3,438,351

MEANS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY INDICA'IING THE SPACING BETWEEN TWO OPPOSEDATTRI'IIONING ELEMENTS AND THEIR CONDITION OF WEAR Filed Sept. 2. 1966Sheet 2 of 2 IINVENTOR.

ROBERT B. KIRKWOOD ATTORNEY United States Patent MEANS FORSIMULTANEOUSLY INDICATING THE SPACING BETWEEN TWO OPPOSED ATTRITIONINGELEMENTS AND THEIR CONDITION OF WEAR Robert B. Kirkwood, Portland,Oreg., assignor to Morden Machines Company, Portland, Oreg., acorporation of Oregon Filed Sept. 2, 1966, Ser. No. 576,967 Int. Cl.G09f 9/00 U.S. Cl. 116-124 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A rodattached to the axially-adjustable element in a pair of axially-alignedattritioning elements and sliding through a stationary member; aslidable bracket on the rod engaging the member when theaxially-adjustable element is brought into actual contact with theopposing element at each-setting; a pointer on the bracket moving over astationary scale to indicate the actual spacing between the elementswhen separated; a second scale carried by the slidable bracket; and apointer fixed on the rod indicating on the second scale the amount ofwear of the elements at each setting.

This invention relates to grinding or attritioning devices in which theattritioning action is performed by a pair of elements presentingopposed attritioning surfaces, and in which one of the elements isrotated at a different speed with respect to the other, particularlywhere one element alone is rotated while the other remains stationary,and also in which the spacing or gap between the two attri;ioningelements is adjustable.

The invention relates especially to such attritioning devices as pulptreating machines having a pair of opposed axially aligned attritioningelements, one of which, commonly referred to as a rotor, is rotated, andthe other of which, commonly referred to as the stator, is not rotated,and with one of these two elements being adjustable in an axialdirection for adjusting the spacing between them while the other remainsin fixed axial position.

In such pulp treating machines, as is well known, very carefuladjustment and control of the spacing between the opposed attritioningsurfaces of the two elements is most essential for eflicientperformance. However, since wear of the attritioning surfaces graduallyoccurs with use, such wear should also be taken into consideration withthe adjustment of the spacing or gap. Furthermore, it is desirable toknow at any time the amount of wear which has taken place on theattritioning surfaces.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved indicatingassembly for such attritioning devices which will show not only thespacing between the opposed attritioning elements or surfaces, but alsothe extent of wear which has taken place on them.

A related object of the invention is to provide improved means forindicating the gap or spacing between opposed attritioning surfaces inwhich compensation for wear on the attritioning surfaces willautomatically be made each time the means indicating the gap betweenthem is reset, with the result that the gap or spacing indicated will bethe actual and true spacing.

A further object is to provide practical and eflicient means forindicating both the correct or actual spacing between two such elementsand the amount of wear on their opposed surfaces, which means will besimple and relatively inexpensive and will present no maintenanceproblem.

3,433,351 Patented Apr. 15, 196

The manner in which the improved double purpose in dicator assembly ofthe present invention is constructer and the manner in which itfunctions will be readily ap parent from the following brief descriptionwith referencr to the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of the indicating assembl by itself; FIG. 2is a section on line 22 of FIG. 1; ant FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectionalelevation drawn to 2 smaller scale, of a well-known type ofpulp-refining ma chine on which the indicating assembly may be used. ItFIG. 1 the reference character 10 indicates a stationar member orbracket which is firmly secured, for example by bolts 11 or any. othersuitable means, to the casing for the attritioning device or pulprefining machine, 2 portion of which is indicated at 20 in broken line.The stationary member or bracket 10 has an extending por tion 10 onwhich a horizontal scale 12 is mounted.

An indicator rod 13 has one end (thus the right hand end as viewed inthe drawing) connected with the axiallymovable element of theattritioning device. For example and for the purpose of thisdescription, it may be assumed that the rod 13 is fastened to theaxially-adjust able stator" 21 of the pulp-refining machine of FIG. 3

' In this machine the attritioning element 22, which con stitutes therotor, is not axially adjustable. The stator 21 is not rotatable but isaxially adjustable through the medium of a plurality of hydrauliccylinders indicatec at 23. However, in the event the rotor of the pulprefiner should be the axially adjustable element due to the fact thatthe rotor shaft is mounted in a bearing housing which in turn is movableso as to enable the rotor shaft and rotor to be moved in an axialdirection, then the rod 13 would be attached to such bearing housing.The rod 13 is slidable in an aperture provided in the stationary memberor bracket 10 (FIGS. 1 and 2).

A separate indicator bracket 14 is mounted on the rod 13 by means of asliding friction bushing 15 (FIG. 2). This bracket 14 has a pointer 16which moves over the scale 12 on the extending portion 10' of thestationary member 10. The pointer 16 is so arranged that when theindicator bracket 14 is in engagement with the stationary member 10, asshown in the drawing, the pointer 16 will indicate the zero mark on thescale 12, and the bracket 14 is so set on the rod 13 at the time ofinstallation that when the two opposed attritioning elements are inactual contact (for example, when the axially-movable stator" 21 (FIG.3) has been moved into contact with the rotor" 22) the bracket 14 willbe moved by the rod 13 into contact with the stationary member 10 andthe pointer 16 will be positioned at the zero mark on the scale 12 asshown in the drawing, thus indicating that there is no spacing betweenthe opposed attritioning elements. Then subsequently, as theaxially-movable element 21 is moved away from contact with the opposingelement 22, the pointer 16 will indicate on the scale 12 the gap orspacing between the two elements.

With the development of wear on the opposed surfaces of the twoattritioning elements, the rod 13 will be moved slightly further (to theright as viewed in FIG. 1) each time the device is reset by the bringingof the axiallyadjustable element into contact with the opposing element.However, the fact that the indicator bracket 14 is mounted on the rod 13by the frictionally slidable bushing 15, enables the rod to be pulledfurther (to the right) while the bracket 14 is held against thestationary member 10 when the wear on the attritioning surfaces makesthis possible. Consequently, when the axially-movable element issubsequently moved away from the opposed attritioning element after eachre-setting of the device, the pointer 16 will always indicate on thescale 12 the exact (I spacing between the attritioning elementsregardless of the wear which may have taken place on the opposedsurfaces.

The slidable cooperating indicator bracket 14 has an extending portion14 on which is mounted a wear-indicating scale 17. A second pointer 18is rigidly mounted on the rod 13 to move over the scale 17 whenever therod 13 is moved relatively with respect to the indicator bracket 14.Thus, as wear on the opposed attritioning surfaces causes the rod 13 tobe moved further (to the right) with respect to the stationary member10, and also with respect to the indicator bracket 14, each time thedevice is reset by the bringing of the two opposed elements into contactwith each other, the pointer 18 would indicate on the scale 17 theextent of wear which has occurred. At the same time, when theaxially-movable element is again moved away from the opposing elementfor the operation of the attritioning device or pulp refining machine,the position of the pointer 18 with respect to the scale 17 will notchange although the pointer 16 moves with respect to the stationaryscale 12 and indicates the actual spacing or gap between the opposedattritioning surfaces.

Consequently, with each resetting of the indicating assembly, by thebringing of the axially-movable attritioning element into contact withthe opposing attritioning element in the attritioning device, theadjusting of the two indicators, the one for the wear on the surfacesand the one for the spacing between the surfaces, takes placeautomatically.

I claim:

1. In an attritioning device having a pair of opposed axially-alignedattritioning elements, one of which is rotated relatively with respectto the other and one of which is movable in an axial direction foradjusting the gap between the elements, an indicator rod connected withand moving in unison in the same axial direction with theaxially-movable element, a stationary member, a bearing for said rod insaid stationary member, said rod slidable in said bearing, an indicatorbracket mounted on said rod beyond said bearing, a friction bushingslidably holding said bracket on said rod, said bracket so positioned onsaid rod that said bracket will be brought into engagement with saidstationary member whenever said axially-movable attritioning element ismoved into actual contact with the other opposed attritioning element,cooperating indicating means on said stationary member and on said rodfor indicating the gap between said opposed elements, and separatecooperating indicating means on said rod and on said bracket forautomatically indicating the extent to which said rod is movedrelatively with respect to said bracket, and thereby the extent of wearon said opposed attritioning elements, when the bringing of saidelements into face to face contact with each other causes said rod tomove in said bracket while said bracket is held by said stationarymember.

2. In a pulp refining machine having a pair of axiallyalignedattritioning elements comprising a stator and a rotor and means formoving the stator in an axial direction for adjusting the spacingbetween stator and rotor, an indicator rod attached to and in axialalignment with the stator, a stationary member, a bearing for said rodin said stationary member, said rod slidable in said bearing, anindicator bracket mounted on said rod beyond said bearing, a frictionbushing slidably holding said bracket on said rod, said bracket sopositioned on said rod that said bracket will be brought into engagementwith said stationary member whenever said stator is moved into actualcontact with the rotor, cooperating indicating means on said stationarymember and on said rod for indicating the spacing between said statorand said rotor, and separate cooperating indicating means on said rodand on said bracket for automatically indicating the extent to whichsaid rod is moved with respect to said bracket, and thereby the extentof wear on the opposed faces of said stator and rotor, when the movingof said stator into contact with said rotor causes said rod to move insaid bracket while said bracket is held by said stationary member.

3. The combination set forth in claim 2 with said first mentionedcooperating indicating means comprising an indicator scale on saidstationary member and a pointer on said bracket moving over said scale,and with said second mentioned cooperating means comprising an indicatorscale on said bracket and a pointer element on said rod arranged to moveover said latter mentioned indicating scale.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,032,584 3/1936 Lengel et al.33-182 2,068,071 1/1937 Quehl 241256 XR 2,743,874 5/1956 Asplund 241-256XR 2,854,894 10/1958 Kline et al 241256 XR 3,212,721 10/1965 Asplund eta1. 241256 XR 2,931,586 4/1960 Messing 241256 3,212,721 10/ 1965 Asplundet a1. 241-256 XR 3,327,952 6/1967 Rosenfeld 241-28 XR LOUIS J. CAPOZI,Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R

